


Controlled Fall

by Onlymostydead



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: A little angst, Background Everyone Else, Body Image, Cheesy, Cross Country Running AU, M/M, Smoking, THIS IS AN AU. In no way is this ACTUALLY ABOUT THEM., cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-22 07:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8277389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onlymostydead/pseuds/Onlymostydead
Summary: Michael Jones hated running.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really love running, unlike Michael, and now that the season is over I wanted to commemorate it.  
> Cheers!

Michael Jones hated running.

It was still summer, after all, and spending the last three weeks before school started in Cross Country practice wasn't exactly his idea of fun.   
Of course, in his opinion, no one liked running. Everyone there would be suffering just like he was. He felt pretty good about that at first, too.   
Most of the people there for practice were there for one of three reasons: their parents forced them, they needed the credits, or they were getting in shape for a different sport.  
Ray, a sophomore along with Michael this year, stood awkwardly in the corner, smelling strongly of weed. Definitely going for credits.  
Gavin, another sophomore, complained about the heat to Jack, a senior. It looked like they had joined along with Geoff- he and Jack rarely did anything separately. Half the school thought they were dating- the other half desperately hoped not.  
Where Michael stood on that, he wouldn't say.  
Gavin was probably just trying it for the hell of it, and the credits- Jack and Geoff too.  
Griffon stretched lazily as she chatted with Barbara about their plans for later. He honestly wasn't sure about them, but other sports seemed likely.  
Meg, at least he thought that was her name, was whispering something to the other freshmen, Jeremy, Matt, Trevor, and Mica. Forced was most likely when it came to freshmen.  
Tyler, Mariel, and Ryan all huddled up in the corner as if they were hiding, occasionally glancing about the room. Nothing said 'forced' like their faces.  
Anyone who knew Michael knew that he fit into the last category. Over the summer he had regained the weight he lost for wrestling season- an amount that would be difficult to lose again. His facial expression soured as he pinched the pudgy muffin top formed by his running shorts.  
But, on the better side of things, only seventeen people were there.  
Yeah, Michael thought to himself. I'll be fine. At the very least I'm faster than half of them.

***

Michael was proved wrong very quickly- most everyone was there because they wanted to be. Or at least, their times said that they enjoyed the sport. Personally he didn't really care much about times- what he did care about was losing.

Michael Jones hated losing, and at the moment he was their slowest runner on the boys team, well, other than Matt; but he didn't count. He had thought for sure he would be faster than Ray, and probably Jeremy too.  
As it turned out, Ray was their number two runner.  
Go figure.  
At least he still had another week until 'hill day', whatever that meant. 

At this rate he'd be sore for the rest of his short, miserable life.

***

To make it more accurate, Michael decided, they should change the 'i' to an 'e'.   
Hell day was certainly a more appropriate name.  
There were no breaks, only running up and down this damned hill.   
Coach screamed at them about proper form, 'Stop leaning forward so much,' 'Swing your arms more,' 'Stop hunching over.' Even with those techniques the heat made running the hill pure torture. Sweat dripped down Michael's face, slicking his hair to his forehead and making his glasses slide down the bridge of his nose. His legs ached and burned from forcing them up and down this damned hill. Struggling for breath Michael prayed that Coach would call it a day soon, his body couldn't take much more.  
Thankfully he did call it, sending them all running back to the school.   
Groaning they started back, all sore and sticky.

"Hey, kid. Good work out there, the first hill day is always pretty rough- according to Rye at least- but you're doing pretty good." Geoff panted, his voice genuine as he jogged alongside Michael.

His shirt clung to his body with sweat in a way that had Michael questioning how much he really hated running.

"Thanks," Michael managed to wheeze in between breaths. 

Whether it was the Senior himself or the strong smell of cigarettes that lingered around him, it was certainly harder to breathe around Geoff. He could feel the color rising in his cheeks as his shirt gapped just the slightest bit- exposing his stomach.  
With a view like that running might actually be worth it.

"My downhills aren't that great, though." He stammered hastily, hoping that he wasn't staring.

Geoff smiled, his grin a bit crooked, but his eyes sparkled joyfully as he clapped him on the back.

"It's all about learned what coach means- a controlled fall. You have to throw yourself out there, but not too recklessly." Geoff began to speed up a bit. "Anyway, you're doing great, kid."

"Names' Michael." He gasped in reply as Geoff passed.

"You think I don't know?" Geoff turned back to wink as he strode away to the school, leaving Michael in the dust.

Yeah, he hated Cross Country.  
But it had its perks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael needs to slow down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are definitely more weight issues and such in this chapter, proceed with caution!

Straining against the setting exhaustion, Michael struggled to keep his body straight and in plank position. Who knew Cross Country would be so intensive? He certainly hadn't expected it to be harder than football.  
Then again, that had been Junior High football, and it wasn't even at the same school.  
Regardless, his abs burned and sweat dripped down from his nose into the floor. His body felt on fire and numb somehow all at the same time. Looking around did provide some validation- all of them seemed to be having decent trouble. Jeremy's forearms kept slipping against the smooth gym floor, and Ray wasn't even actually doing it. Geoff didn't even pretend to- he was just lying on the floor, staring at coach to make sure he wasn't caught.  
The bastard.  
Only when Michael was sure his arms would give out did coach call time. All of them, save for Geoff and Ray, flopped to the floor is varying stages of really fucking done.

"Side planks!" Coach called, receiving a loud groan from everyone else present.

Gritting his teeth Michael got up into side plank position, for once in his life wishing he could be running instead of what he was doing currently.

***

Michael knew he was fucked when he started to feel lightheaded two minutes into their run.   
He knew that he shouldn't feel this woozy, he wasn't even going very quickly. Plus- he had eaten... Wait, had he?  
He didn't have much time to think about that as his vision continued to blur. Black spots danced in the corners, growing larger and darker until...  
Michael didn't remember falling to the ground, his legs collapsing out from under him.

***

"Hey, hey buddy, you awake?" A voice asked, high pitched and a bit nasal.

Michael groaned in response, covering his eyes to protect them from the harsh light.

"Yeah, he's awake." The form of someone above him said, the same voice as before, he noted.

"The fuck..." He grumbled, trying to pull himself upright.

"Don't try to sit up yet, don't want you to pass out again." They said.

"Language." They added.

Michael blinked, reaching up to rub his eyes. He found that he wasn't wearing his glasses- that accounted for how damn blurry everything was. The person seemed to sense that, putting the glasses on him.

The person, as it turned out, was Geoff Ramsey.  
Damn it.

"You feeling okay?" Geoff asked, now helping him sit up, despite what he said just a few seconds before.

"Yeah, 'm fine." Michael cleared his throat indignantly, pulling himself upright.

"Wait. You're not diabetic, right?" Geoff asked.

"Nope." Michael shook his head, as if that could shake out the foggy feeling and the beginnings of a headache.

As if on cue his stomach grumbled.

Geoff sighed, "Wrestling?"

"How-" Michael began, but decided to stop when he saw the look in Geoff's eyes. "Yeah." He admitted.

"You can't lose it all at once, it's about balance. You gotta slow down." Geoff said, the worry strong in his voice. 

"Yeah, and how sober are you?" Michael blurted out, regretting the anger in his words as soon as he spoke them.

"We all have our things we fall on- just don't go too fast. It'd be a shame to lose you." Geoff said patiently, standing up. 

He led him inside, placing a bottle of Gatorade in his hands.

***

Michael was pleasantly surprised to find that no one else noticed him passing out. Only because him and Geoff were going the slowest (Matt didn't show up for practice), but that was less important.   
He briefly considered telling coach to get out of doing core- but in such a small school news traveled quickly. If it became known that he passed out in Cross Country it could affect his making the wrestling team.  
Plus- if he never did it he'd never get better.

After core as he left the gym Michael raised the Gatorade to his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me running on Tumblr at Supertinydom!  
> Comments are love <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop! Whoop! Last chapter!
> 
> If I were to write more in a kind of Cross Country/Track. & Field AU, would people want to read it? Let me know! <3

The first three weeks quickly drew to a close- bringing with them the moment Michael had been dreading all along.  
It was Saturday morning, and the Cross Country team was on their way to their first meet.   
Ideally he would be spending his last weekend before school sleeping in and playing video games- but instead the bunch of them had to be at Achievement High School at eight o'clock. It wasn't very early- Michael would admit to that much. However, compared to his usual schedule of sleeping past noon? It felt early as dicks.  
The others seemed to have the same idea. Ray had stealthily put his earbuds in- headphones and earbuds were prohibited on the bus- and fallen asleep against the window. Matt and Trevor were fast asleep too- Trevor curled up under Matt's arm. Meg snored softly against Ryan, who seemed to be debating whether or not he could smoke in the bus stealthily enough to get away with it. Loud snoring emanated from the back row.

As for Michael, he really wished he could fall asleep. However, Geoff's presence in the seat next to him filled him with energy that made it impossible to even close his eyes- despite how tired he was.  
Geoff idly twirled his hair before pulling it back into his usual low ponytail.  
Damn, Michael thought to himself. He is going to be the death of me.

"Alright! Everyone up!" Coach yelled from the front of the bus, waking up most of them. 

Ryan almost shook Meg awake, but decided against it.

"Most of you already know your positions- but first meet messes with some things. Freshmen are required to run JV, so." He pulled out a stack of papers, eyes scanning a list.

"Meg, Mica, you two will be in the girls JV, that's the first race- at one." Coach read.

Meg seemed to startle awake at her name, yawning. Mica grinned, but it looked sarcastic.

"Jeremy, Matt, Trevor, you'll be in the next race- two o'clock. After that it's girls Varsity; Griffon, Barbara, Jack, and Mariel, your race is at two forty-five." Coach flipped the page, clearing his throat.

"Last race- boys Varsity, and that'll be... Tyler, Ray, Ryan, Gavin, Geoff, and Michael. That will start at three thirty- afterwards will be awards. Everybody got that?" Coach said.

Everyone nodded lazily, half of them yawning.

"Okay. We'll get there in fifteen minutes, then there'll be a coaches meeting. JV girls, you'll need to be warming up at twelve- but before that you all need to walk the trail. You all got that?" Coach said.

Michael drummed his fingers against his thigh, chewing on his lip. It was only ten- they were going to be there almost all day. Plus awards wouldn't be over until almost four thirty- and it took a good two hours to get home.  
Biting into his lip particularly hard, Michael said goodbye to his last Saturday.

***

When they got there Michael instantly left the bus- the air in there was too crowded and noisy. Geoff was the only one who followed suit.

"So.. Should we go walk the trail or some shit?" Michael asked, shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket.

He was sweltering in this heat- but sweating out the weight was important- especially with how much he had eaten that morning.

"Yeah, sounds good." Geoff replied, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

"Aren't those bad for you?" Michael asked sarcastically.

"Yes, but I'm not actively killing myself. It's slower, and I have more power than that." Geoff answered, lighting his cigarette.

"Pfft, a controlled fall?" Michael grinned drawing close enough to grab the front of Geoff's jacket.

The cigarette had drawn all attention to Geoff's lips now. Maybe he was tired, or hungry, or hell maybe Geoff just had something about him that felt intoxicating.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." With that he took the cigarette from his mouth, exhaling before leaning in closer to Michael.

He may not haven run until three thirty- but Michael's heart was racing in his chest.

Hell, they were just two stupid teenagers. Falling in their own right- but slowly.  
They knew they would hit the ground eventually, but for now none of that mattered.

They kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me running on Tumblr at Supertinydom!  
> Comments are love <3

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me running on Tumblr at Supertinydom!  
> Comments are love.


End file.
